Public Internet Access: The Bennington Free Library

The Bennington Free Library is located at:

101 Silver Street

Bennington, VT 05201

Phone Number: 802-442-9051

Welcome to Bennington, Vermont, the town I was born in. As hard as it was for me to grow up there, the library was always a place where you could find me. And when my stint at Lyndon State college didn't work out, I spent a lot of time at the library, typing away as I am doing now. Trying to make my way as a writer while I pushed shopping carts at Price Chopper, a place that didn't think I could do much more than push shopping carts and bag groceries.

The best way to get to the library, driving or walking, is to take Main Street. You'll pass many of the best and most popular shops and restaurants as you make your way there. And just about every place here has relevance in my life.

Evans News was where I bought my type writer ink, back when I owned such an archaic device in this era of computers, cellphones and DVDs. There's also Carmody's, my favorite Irish restaurant next to RiRa's. It's also the place where my mother took me for my first beer the day I turned twenty-one. Oh and, if you're in the mood for pizza, there's the Bennington Pizza House.

Bennington Pizza House will always hold a special place in my heart. My mother went there when she was a kid. And I have fond memories of my brothers and I eating there, back when my family was still one functioning unit. And my seven year-old sister's girl scout leader is one of the owners. So, however you look at it, Bennington Pizza House will always be a part of my family, and if I recommend anyone's pizza, it will always be theirs. (Unless you want to see the pizza place where Dom Deluise once visited, which is Anne's, but lets not change the subject of the hub now)

Further down Main Street, as you pass the main office for the local Bennington Banner you will also see the Bennington Book Shop, where I bought most of the books of the Animorphs series. And the relatively new but thriving Bennington Chocolate Shop. By now you may have guessed that business owners aren't terribly creative with the names, but the shops are the heart of this town, so we can let it slide.

The point is, Main Street is the most scenic way to get to the Bennington Free Library, and if you're not careful you'll spend more than you intended to before you get there.

 There are eight computers for Internet use. One computer is reserved for people with visual impairments.

These are all located in the adult section of the library. When you walk in, take a right past the new fiction titles and all the way past the reading area. You'll see them as you walk in.

You do not have to be a patron of the Bennington Free Library to use the Internet. Because the reference desk is literally right behind the computer area, they have not seen the need to implement the automated reservation system you will see in many of the larger libraries.

SImply go the reference desk and ask the librarian at the desk for Internet time. She will ask you to sign your name on a pad. If there is no one on the station, you may jump right on and if there is no one else with a reservation you can pretty much just sit there until they tell you otherwise.

E-mail is limited to one half hour, but regular browsing is permitted. Also, floppy disks and flash drives from outside the library are prohibited.

Net Junky Protip: The librarians are known to watch you like a hawk here. Because if something were to happen to their computers, there would be very little way to replace them and no way to determine precisely whose fault it was. So keep that in mind when you think you're being swift by hitting the Alt-Tab key to hide your porn surfing.

 It's half and half here. The librarians at the desk near the computers are generally very helpful. This could because they are in the trenches, so to speak and they find it easier to try to be at least amiable.

The ladies at the main desk, however, can be very dismissive. Especially since the card catologue went electronic. If you ask them to help you find a book, they will give you a grunt and point you in the direction of the computer. It does get annoying if you go there every single day.

One of the librarians actually ran for a seat in the House of Representatives at one point. This was the same woman who rather condescendingly asked me why I was applying for a job as one of their maintenence workers, when there were "so many" forty hour a week jobs available in that town. There were none, trust me. And she is one of the people I refer to in my Work Place Survival Guide: The Intro and the Interview who will play headgames with you, just for the fun of it.